Information processing apparatus and control method thereof

ABSTRACT

An information processing apparatus for management of document images. In input document image data, when an area from which index information is to be extracted is designated, an index item for the designated area is set. Then, index extraction information where information specifying the designated area is linked with information indicating the set index item is generated. The generated index extraction information is combined with the document image data.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus andits control method for management of document data by linking indexinformation with the data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Recently, a document management system is needed for managing variousdocuments (paper documents, facsimile letters, e-mail messages, Webpages and the like) existing in a company, by digitizing and classifyingthe documents in a library on a computer for executive utilization andsearch. In such document management system, for example, a paperdocument generated in a predetermined document form is read with ascanner, and is stored as image data in a document server. At the sametime, index information as text data, indicating a company name, anaddress and the like, is extracted from the image data, and linked withthe image data and stored. For example, information indicating thelocation of the associated image data (URL or the like) is held with theindex. In this manner, a search for a desired document (image) can beeasily made from an index. Further, Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid-Open No. 6-223113 discloses a system to extract a keyword from animage in a document including text(s) and image(s). According to thesystem disclosed in this publication, an image is subjected to characterrecognition, then a keyword is selected from comparison between wordsobtained by natural language processing and a keyword table.

However, in the above document management system, how to linkinformation in image data with an index item is a problem. As one methodfor extracting an index from image data, proposed is performingcharacter recognition in a predetermined area upon scanning of paperdocument and storing obtained text information as index information. Inthis method, the predetermined area is determined by a user's previoussetting a character recognition area of image data and an index item tobe linked with the area. Accordingly, in this method, it is necessary topreviously set “what area is to be subjected to character recognition asindex item data (here referred to as “index extraction information”)” incorrespondence with the form of document to be scanned. By thisnecessity of setting work, document registration in the documentmanagement system is complicated.

Further, it may be arranged such that the index extraction informationfor plural types of document forms are previously registered, and theuser selects a desired setting in correspondence with a document to beread. However, when many documents are to be read and plural types ofform exist, it is necessary for the user to select a setting for eachdocument form. Also, the document registration is complicated. Further,every time a new document form, for which index extraction informationhas not been set, appears, it is necessary to perform the setting andregistration of index extraction information in the document managementsystem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in consideration of the aboveproblems, and has its object to facilitate registration of documentimage in a document management system.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided aninformation processing apparatus for managing document images,comprising: a designation unit configured to designate an area fromwhich index information is to be extracted, in inputted document imagedata; a setting unit configured to set an index item for the areadesignated by the designation unit; a generation unit configured togenerate index extraction information where information specifying thedesignated area is linked with information indicating the index item setby the setting unit; and a combining unit configured to combine theindex extraction information generated by the generation unit with thedocument image data.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is providedan information processing apparatus comprising: a designation unitconfigured to designate an area to be subjected to a characterrecognition processing, in an input document image data; a generatingunit configured to generate a pattern image specifying the an areadesignated by the designation unit; and a combining unit configured tocombine the pattern image generated by the generation unit with thedocument image data.

Further, according to another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an information processing apparatus for managing documentimages, comprising: an analysis unit configured to analyze informationrecorded in a predetermined form, from input document image data, andextract index extraction information including information to specify anarea and an index item set for the area; a recognition unit configuredto extract an image of the area specified with the index extractioninformation extracted by the analysis unit, and perform characterrecognition processing on the extracted image; and a registration unitconfigured to register the document image data, with character dataobtained by the recognition unit, as index information for the indexitem indicated with the index extraction information.

Note that preferably, the index extraction information is combined as apattern image with document image data. As the pattern image, an imageembedded as an electronic watermark may be used as well as a visibleimage such as a two-dimensional barcode.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate thesame name or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and,together with the description, serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the entire configuration of a documentmanagement system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing functional constructions of a documentmanagement client, a document management server and an index managementserver of the document management system;

FIGS. 3A to 3C illustrate examples of table definition in an attributestorage unit of the document management server;

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate examples of data structure in a volumestorage unit of the document management server;

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate examples of table definition in an indexstorage unit of the index management server;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a construction of a digitalmulti-function device in the document management system according to theembodiment;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a functional construction of systemsoftware of the digital multi-function device;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing for generation of form datawith two-dimensional barcode, in the document management client;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a predetermined format image;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of an area-divided document image;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of form information stored in atwo-dimensional barcode;

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a predetermined format image withtwo-dimensional barcode;

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of user interface upon processing forgeneration of the form data with two-dimensional barcode by the documentmanagement client; and

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing document registration processing by thedocument management client.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described indetail in accordance with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the entire configuration of a documentmanagement system according to an embodiment of the present invention.The document management system includes a document management client100, a document management server 110, an index management server 120and a digital multi-function device 130. These devices areinterconnected via a network 140. Note that personal computers or thelike may be utilized as the document management client 100, the documentmanagement server 110 and the index management server 120.

The document management client 100 performs issuance of a request forsearch for a document managed by the document management server 110,display of a retrieved document, and reference to an index managed bythe index management server 120. The document management client 100 hasa user interface (UI) unit 101, a client processing unit 102 and anetwork I/F 103. The UI unit 101 receives operator's instructionsregarding respective functions of the document management client 100such as document registration, document search, display and indexreference, and provides various information such as processed result tothe operator. The UI unit 101 has a display device such as a CRT or aliquid crystal display and input devices such as a keyboard and apointing device. The client processing unit 102, having a CPU, a memoryand the like, performs processings for the respective functions of thedocument management client 100 such as document registration, documentsearch, display and index reference. When processing for the documentmanagement server 100 has occurred, the client processing unit 102transmits various request commands via the network I/F 103 to thedocument management server 110 and the index management server 120 andreceives responses from the servers.

The document management server 110 manages image data and document dataread with the document management client 100 and the digitalmulti-function device 130. The document management server 110 has anetwork I/F 111, an attribute management server unit 112 and a volumeserver unit 115. The attribute management server unit 112 and the volumeserver unit 115 may be realized with one computer as in the case of thepresent embodiment, or with different computers interconnected with thenetwork 140. The network I/F 111, connected with the network 140,performs processing of network protocol such as TCP/IP.

The attribute management server unit 112 manages the relation ofinclusion among folders, documents and pages and their attributes andthe like in order to manage image data and document data as documentsstored in hierarchized folders. The attribute management server unit 112has an attribute management server processing unit 113 and an attributestorage unit 114. The attribute management server processing unit 113,having a CPU, a memory and the like, receives a request command via thenetwork I/F 111 from the client processing unit 102. Then, the attributemanagement server processing unit 113 performs processing such as updateor search on the attribute storage unit 114 in accordance with thereceived request command, and transmits the result of processing to theclient processing unit 102. The attribute storage unit 114, which holdsfolder attributes, document attributes, page attributes and the like, isgenerally realized with a hard disk or the like.

The volume server unit 115 holds and manages actual data such asdocument data and/or image data corresponding to pages managed by theattribute management server unit 112. The volume server unit 115 has avolume server processing unit 116 and a volume storage unit 117. Thevolume server processing unit 116, having a CPU, a memory and the like,receives a request command via the network I/F 111 from the clientprocessing unit 102. Then the volume server processing unit 116 performsprocessing such as update and data acquisition on the volume storageunit 117 in accordance with the received request command, and transmitsthe result of processing to the client processing unit 102. The volumestorage unit 117, which holds document data and image data, is generallyrealized with a hard disk or the like.

The index management server 120 manages indices as keywords for searchfor image data and document data stored in the document managementserver 110. The index management server 120 has a network I/F 121 and anindex server unit 122. Note that the index server unit 122 may beindependently realized with one computer as in the case of the presentembodiment, or with the same computer as that of the attributemanagement server unit 112 and the volume server unit 115. The networkI/F 121, connected with the network 140, performs processing of networkprotocol such as TCP/IP.

The index server unit 122 manages the indices as keywords for documentsearch, with linkages with document information managed by the attributemanagement server unit 112. The index server unit 122 has an indexserver processing unit 123 and an index storage unit 124. The indexserver processing unit 123, having a CPU, a memory and the like,receives a request command via the network I/F 121 from the clientprocessing unit 102. Then the index server processing unit 123 performsprocessing such as update and data acquisition on the index storage unit124 in accordance with the received request command, and transmits theresult of processing to the client processing unit 102. The indexstorage unit 124, which holds index data, is generally realized with ahard disk or the like.

The digital multi-function device 130 is an image forming apparatushaving multiple functions as a copier, a scanner, a printer and afacsimile machine. As shown in FIG. 1, the digital multi-function device130 has a scanner unit 131 as an image input device, a printer unit 132as an image output device, a controller unit 133, and an operation unit134 as a user interface. The scanner unit 131, the printer unit 132 andthe operation unit 134 are respectively connected with the controllerunit 133, and the controller unit 133 is connected with the network(LAN) 140 and a network (WAN) 150. Note that in the present embodiment,a public line is employed as the WAN 150.

The controller unit 133 performs processing for scan job or the likebased on input information from the operation unit 134, and providesinformation such as apparatus status or job status to the operation unit134.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing functional constructions of thedocument management client 100, the document management server 110 andthe index management server 120 in FIG. 1. Note that in FIG. 2, theconstituent elements corresponding to those in FIG. 1 have the samereference numerals.

The client processing unit 102 of the document management client 100 hasa client application unit 200, an image processing unit 201, an imageanalysis unit 202, a cabinet document management unit 203, a databasecommunication unit 204, a volume communication unit 205, and an indexcommunication unit 206.

The client application unit 200 performs processing for the respectivefunctions of the document management client 100 in accordance withinstructions from the UI unit 101, and controls the display screen ofthe UI unit 101. Further, when processing for the attribute managementserver unit 112, the volume server unit 115 and the index server unit122 has occurred, the client application unit 200 supplies the requestto the cabinet document management unit 203. Then the client applicationunit 200 receives the result of processing in accordance with therequest from the cabinet document management unit 203. The imageprocessing unit 201 performs image processing such as image expansion,image compression, color space conversion, base removing,enlargement/reduction, rotating, combining and generation oftwo-dimensional barcode in accordance with requests from the clientapplication unit 200 and the cabinet document management unit 203. Theimage analysis unit 202 performs processing such as image analysis, areadividing and character recognition in accordance with requests from theclient application unit 200 and the cabinet document management unit203.

The cabinet document management unit 203 issues a request to theattribute management server unit 112, the volume server unit 115 and theindex server unit 122, in the form of object model including a cabinet,a folder, a document and a page. That is, when processing such asreference to or update of a folder attribute, a document attribute or apage attribute has occurred, the cabinet document management unit 203supplies the request to the database communication unit 204, andreceives the result of processing from the database communication unit204. Further, when processing such as registration, deletion oracquisition of image data or document data has occurred, the cabinetdocument management unit 203 supplies the request to the volumecommunication unit 205, and receives the result of processing from thevolume communication unit 205. Further, when processing such asreference to or update of an index has occurred, the cabinet documentmanagement unit 203 supplies the request to the index communication unit206, and receives the result of processing from the index communicationunit 206.

The database communication unit 204 transmits a request command to theattribute management server 112 via the network I/F 103 to the databasecommunication 207 by the SQL (Structured Query Language) protocoldefined on the TCP/IP protocol, and receives a response command from thedatabase communication unit 207. The volume communication unit 205transmits a request command to the volume server unit 115 via thenetwork I/F 103 to the volume communication unit 209 by the RPC (RemoteProcedure Call), and receives a response command from the volumecommunication unit 209. The index communication unit 206 transmits arequest command to the index server unit 122 via the network I/P 103 tothe index communication unit 211 by the SQL (Structured Query Language)protocol defined on the TCP/IP protocol. Then the index communicationunit 206 receives a response command from the database communicationunit 211.

The attribute management server processing unit 112 of the documentmanagement server 110 has a database communication unit 207 and adatabase processing unit 208. The database communication unit 207receives a request command to the attribute management server unit 112via the network I/F 111 from the database communication unit 204 by theSQL (Structured Query Language) protocol defined on the TCP/IP protocol.Then, the database communication unit 207 supplies the received requestto the database processing unit 208, and transmits the correspondingresult of processing, as a response command, to the databasecommunication unit 204. The database processing unit 208 is a RDBMS(Relational Database Management System) for management of relation ofinclusion among folders, documents and pages and their attributes. Thedatabase processing unit 208 performs processing such as update andsearch on the attribute storage unit 114 holding a database file incorrespondence with a command supplied from the database communicationunit 207.

FIGS. 3A to 3C illustrate examples of table definition in the attributestorage unit 114. In FIGS. 3A to 3C, a folder management table 300, adocument management table 301 and a page management table 302 are usedby the database processing unit 208 for management of relation ofinclusion among folders, documents and pages and their attributes.

In the folder management table 300, “Folder ID” is used foridentification of a folder. “Parent Folder ID” is used foridentification of a parent folder of the folder. “Folder Name” indicatesa name given to the folder. “Date of Generation” indicates the date ofgeneration of the folder. When a folder is newly generated, the abovecontents for the new folder are registered in the folder managementtable 300.

Further, in the document management table 301, “Document ID” is used foridentification of a document. “Parent Folder ID” is used foridentification of a folder to which the document belongs. “DocumentName” is a name given to the document. “Size” indicates the size of thedocument (e.g., the number of bytes). “Number of Pages” indicates thenumber of pages of the document. “Document Type” indicates whether ornot the document is an image document as a group of image data andindicates the application by which the document data was generated.“Date of Generation” indicates the date of generation of the document.When a document is newly generated, the above contents for the newdocument are registered in the document management table 301.

Further, in the page management table 302, “Page ID” is used foridentification of a page. “Parent Document ID” is used foridentification of a document to which includes the page. “Page Number”indicates the page number of the page. “Type” indicates the file formatof the page data of the page. “Paper Size” indicates the paper size whenthe page is image data. “File Size” indicates the size of a file of thepage. “Volume ID” is used for identification of image data or documentdata managed by the volume server unit 115. When a document is newlyregistered, the above contents for each page of the new document areregistered in the page management table 302.

Returning to FIG. 2, the volume server processing unit 116 of thedocument management server 110 has a volume communication unit 209 and avolume processing unit 210. The volume communication unit 209 receives arequest command to the volume server unit 115 via the network I/F 111from the volume communication unit 205 by RPC (Remote Procedure Call).Then the volume communication unit 209 supplies the request to thevolume processing unit 210, and transmits the result of processing, as aresponse command, to the volume communication unit 205. The volumeprocessing unit 210 performs processing such as update or dataacquisition on the volume storage unit 117 holding volume files incorrespondence with the command supplied from the volume communicationunit 209.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate examples of data structure of a file storedin the volume storage unit 117. The volume storage unit 117 has a volumestorage file 401 (FIG. 4B) holding actual data of image data anddocument data, and a volume management file 400 (FIG. 4A) managing thedata.

In the volume management file 400, “Volume ID” is used foridentification of actual data. “Volume File Name” is a file name foridentification of a volume storage file in which the data is stored.“Offset” is a offset value indicating a storage start position of thedata in the volume storage file. “Size” is the size of the data (e.g.,the number of bytes). Further, in the volume storage file 401, actualimage data and document data are continuously stored. In this manner,the actual data of a document is stored as one file in the volumestorage unit 117, and a volume ID is allocated by page of the document,and stored in the format as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B.

Again returning to FIG. 2, the index server processing unit 123 of theindex management server 120 has an index communication unit 211 and anindex processing unit 212. The index communication unit 211 receives arequest command to the index server unit 122 via the network I/F 121from the index communication unit 206 by the SQL (Structured QueryLanguage) protocol defined on the TCP/IP protocol. Then, the indexcommunication unit 211 supplies the request to the index processing unit212, and transmits the result of processing, as a response command, tothe index communication unit 206. The index processing unit 212 performsprocessing such as update or data acquisition on the index storage unit124 holding index files in correspondence with the supplied command.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate examples of table definition in the indexstorage unit 124. The index storage unit 124 holds an index table 500used by the index processing unit 212 for management of index data andan index data table 501.

In the index table 500, “Index ID” is used for identification of anindex item. “Index Name” is the name of the index item. “Type” indicateswhether the data of the index item is a numerical value or a characterstring. In the index data table 501, “Data ID” is used foridentification of the index data. “Index ID” is used for identificationof the index item name. “Index Data” is the data of the index. “DocumentID” is the ID of a document with which the index data is linked. Theindex data table exists for each data type.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a construction of the digitalmulti-function device 130 in FIG. 1. In FIG. 6, the constituent elementscorresponding to those in FIG. 1 have the same reference numerals. Acontroller unit 133 is connected with a scanner unit 131 as an imageinput device and a printer unit 132 as an image output device. On theother hand, the controller unit 133 is connected with the network (LAN)140 or the public line (WAN) 150, thereby the controller unit 133inputs/outputs image information and device information.

In the controller unit 133, a CPU 600 is a controller to control theentire digital multi-function device. A RAM 601 is a system work memoryfor the operation of the CPU 600. Further, the RAM 601 is used as animage memory (buffer memory) for temporarily storing input image data. AROM 602 is a boot ROM in which a system boot program is stored. A harddisk drive (HDD) 603 holds system software, image data and the like.

The operation unit I/F 604 is an interface unit with respect to theoperation unit 134. The operation unit I/F 604 outputs image data to bedisplayed on the operation unit 134 to the operation unit 134. Further,the operation unit I/F 604 transmits information inputted by theoperator from the operation unit 134 to the CPU 600. A network unit 605,connected with the network (LAN) 140, inputs/outputs information. Amodem 606, connected with the public line (WAN) 150, inputs/outputsimage information. The above devices are connected with a system bus607.

An image bus I/F 608 is a bus bridge which connects the system bus 607to an image bus 609 and converts data structure. The image bus 609, usedfor high-speed transfer of image data, is a PCI bus or an IEEE 1394 bus.On the image bus 609, the following devices are arranged.

A raster image processor (RIP) 610 expands a PDL code to a bitmap image.A device I/F unit 611 connects the scanner unit 131 and the printer unit132 as image input/output devices to the controller unit 133 via animage input unit interface 612 and a printer unit interface 613. Ascanner image processing unit 614 performs correction, process, andediting on input image data. Further, the scanner image processing unit614 has a function of determining whether an input image is a colororiginal or a monochrome original from a chromaticness signal of theimage and holding the result of determination. A printer imageprocessing unit 615 performs correction, process, and editing on outputimage data.

An image rotation unit 616, in cooperation with the scanner imageprocessing unit 614, rotates an image at the same time of reading theimage from the scanner unit 131, and stores the image into a memory(e.g., the RAM 601). Further, the image rotation unit 616 rotates animage stored in the memory and stores the rotated image into the memoryagain, or performs print-output of an image stored in the memory, whilerotating the image in cooperation with the printer image processing unit615. An image compression unit 617 performs JPEG compression/expansionprocessing on multivalue image data, and JBIG, MMR, MR or MHcompression/expansion processing on binary image data. A resolutionconversion unit 618 performs resolution conversion processing on animage stored in the memory and stores the processed image into thememory. A color space conversion unit 619 converts, e.g., a YUV imagestored in the memory, into an Lab image by matrix computation, andstores the converted image into the memory. A gray level conversion unit620 converts, e.g., a 8-bit and 256-level image stored in the memoryinto a 1-bit and binary image by error-diffusion processing or the likeand stores the converted image into the memory. It may be arranged suchthat the image rotation unit 616, the image compression unit 617, theresolution conversion unit 618, the color space conversion unit 619 andthe gray level conversion unit 620 operate in cooperation with eachother. Accordingly, when an image on the memory is subjected to imagerotation and resolution conversion, the both processings can beperformed without memory.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a functional construction of systemsoftware in the digital multi-function device 130 in FIG. 1. A userinterface (UI) unit 700 supplies input information from the operator toan application unit 701, receives the result of processing from theapplication unit 701 and generates a screen image displayed on theoperation unit 134. The application unit 701 controls execution ofprocessing in accordance with a request from the UI unit 700. Forexample, when scanning is requested, the application unit 701 sends ascan job, with a designated scan setting, to a job control domain unit702, and receives information on apparatus status or job status from thejob control domain unit 702. The job control domain unit 702 controlsplural job processings such as a scan job, a copying job, a print joband a facsimile job. For example, when a scan job has been received, thejob control domain unit 702 operates the scanner unit 131 based on adesignated scan setting, to read an original and generate image data,and store the data. A network I/F unit 703, connected with the network140, performs processing of network protocol such as TCP/IP.

In the document management system having the above construction, when adocument to be registered has been newly read, necessary indexinformation is extracted from the document and registered in the indexdata table 501 in FIG. 5B. In the present embodiment, informationindicating an area of document image to be subjected to characterrecognition as index item data is previously recorded in the documentwith a two-dimensional barcode. By utilizing such document form withtwo-dimensional barcode, upon document registration, the two-dimensionalbarcode is analyzed, then character recognition is performed on adesignated area in the document image, and information is extracted asdata of the designated index item.

Next, generation of the above two-dimensional barcode in the documentmanagement client 100 will be described with reference to the flowchartof FIG. 8.

First, the operator selects a form data image as an original fromdocument images stored in the document management server 110 by thedocument management client 100. Otherwise, it may be arranged such thata form data image as an original is read by scanning from the digitalmulti-function device 130. When generation of form data withtwo-dimensional barcode is designated, the present process starts (stepS800).

The form data image has a predetermined format as shown in FIG. 9. Theselected form data image is transferred to the image analysis unit 202.The image analysis unit 202 performs area dividing by a block selectiontechnique on the transferred form data image (S801). Note that as thetechnique applied to the area dividing processing, the method disclosedin Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-68301 may be employed.According to the area dividing, the number of obtained areas, attributesof the respective areas, positions of the respective areas on the image,sizes of the areas and the like are obtained as layout analysis data.The client application unit 200 displays an area-divided form data imageon the UI unit 101 based on the analysis data. FIG. 10 is a conceptualdiagram showing the result of area dividing of the document image inFIG. 9.

As a result of the area dividing processing at step S801, it isdetermined whether or not a divided area exists (step S802). If adivided area exists, the process proceeds to step S803 and thesubsequent steps to set index extraction information for an arbitraryarea. That is, when a divided area exists as shown in FIG. 10, theoperator's determination as to whether or not the area is to be used asan index is waited. In this case, the UI unit 101 presents a userinterface as shown in FIG. 13 to a display device of the documentmanagement client 100. On the other hand, if no divided area exists, theprocess ends from step S802.

The user interface in FIG. 13 is used for allocation of index item to anarea arbitrarily selected by the user, or for setting of auxiliaryinformation for character recognition processing. Note that in thepresent embodiment, the setting of index extraction information isperformed by the combination of an operation of the pointer 1300 and aclick operation with a pointing device.

When the index extraction information is set, the pointer 1300 is movedto a desired area in the result of area dividing displayed in a formdata image 1301 in the display screen in FIG. 13, and the desired areais clicked. By this operation, the area is selected as the subject ofindex information setting. When the area has been selected, areainformation of the selected area (analysis data such as the position ofthe area on the image and the size of the area) is obtained by the UIunit 101 (step S804).

Note that an, index item and character recognition auxiliary informationof the selected area are further set. When the area has been selectedwith the pointer 1300, a menu 1302 appears, and setting of index itemand character recognition auxiliary information can be performed. Asindex items, “company name”, “address” and the like are prepared. Theoperator can select a desired index item. Note that the operator mayadditionally register index items arbitrarily. The character recognitionauxiliary information means information on characters recognized in thearea such as character type (handwrite, print, signature etc.),character orientation (vertical writing, horizontal writing etc.) andlanguage (English, Japanese etc.). FIG. 13 shows a setting window 1303,which is used when “character recognition auxiliary information” isselected from the menu 1302.

By the above user interface, the setting of the selected area iscompleted, then, when a setting button 1304 has been clicked, indexextraction information regarding the selected area is recorded in thememory. That is, the coordinates and size of the area obtained from thelayout analysis data are stored in the memory (step S805), and the indexitem set by the operator is stored in the memory (step S806). Then, thecharacter recognition auxiliary information set by the operator isstored in the memory (step S807), and the process returns to theprocessing at step S803.

Note that the above index extraction information is stored, as forminformation, in a form description language. The form descriptionlanguage is in conformance with the XML (extensible Markup Language).FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram showing the form information to bestored. A description 1101 indicates the position and size of the area;a description 1102, an index item (name); and a description 1103, thecharacter recognition auxiliary information. In FIG. 11, the areaposition (coordinates) is (50,50), and the area size is 100×300. Notethat assuming that the upper left corner of a document as (0,0), thearea position is represented by the number of pixels in X- andY-directions (downward direction is positive). The area size is alsorepresented by the number of pixels in the X- and Y-directions. Further,in FIG. 11, the index item is “Company Name”. The character type isprint (1), the language is English (3), and the character orientation ishorizontal (2). In FIG. 11, the information between tags <ZONE_1> and</ZONE_1>(including area position information 1101, index item 1102 andcharacter recognition auxiliary information 1103) is referred to asindex information.

In the processing at step S803, when the index extraction information isnot set any more, i.e., when the completion button 1305, indicating thatthere is no more area as a subject of index setting, has been clicked,the process proceeds to step S808. At step S808, it is determinedwhether or not form information stored in the form description languageexists. If it is determined that form information exists, the imageprocessing unit 201 generates two-dimensional barcode image datarepresenting the form information (step S809). The two-dimensionalbarcode image data is combined with a form image where data is notinputted as shown in FIG. 12 by the image processing unit 201 (stepS810), and is stored in the document management server 110. Otherwise,the form image is transmitted via the network 140 to the digitalmulti-function device 130 then print-outputted, and is handled as paperform data. Note that the position where the barcode is combined may bedetermined based on the user's designation with the user interface asshown in FIG. 13, or may be determined by automatically recognizingblank space in the form image using the result of area dividing in FIG.10.

Note that in the present embodiment, the setting of index extractioninformation is performed on an arbitrary area in accordance with theoperator's designation, however, it may be arranged such that checkprocessing is performed on all the areas obtained by the area dividingprocessing. Further, in the present embodiment, the area divided by thearea dividing processing is handled as an index extraction area,however, an index extraction area may be arbitrarily designated by theoperator. Further, the index extraction information is represented witha two-dimensional barcode, however, the form of representation of theindex extraction information is not limited to the two-dimensionalbarcode. Any other pattern or recording method may be employed as longas the index extraction information can be recognized. For example, theindex extraction information may be

-   (i) represented with a one-dimensional barcode,-   (ii) combined as a character string without being converted to a    barcode,-   (iii) embedded as an electronic watermark in a form image, or-   (iv) recorded as attribute information of the form image, and    written in an RF-ID embedded in a paper sheet upon printing of the    form.

Note that in the method (iv) is premised on the use of a form printsheet where a readable and writable RF-ID is embedded.

When a form data sheet with index, generated in the above processing, isused, index extraction from document image data can be easily performedupon storage of the document in the present information processingapparatus. In this case, as a two-dimensional barcode indicating indexextraction information is recorded in the document image itself, evenwhen documents in plural types of document forms exist, the document canbe registered without selection of index extraction information.

Next, the document registration by the document management client 100according to the present embodiment will be described. Particularly,processing to extract an index from a document generated using the formdata sheet with two-dimensional barcode generated as above will bedescribed. FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the document registrationprocessing by the document management client 100. Hereinbelow, theprocessing will be described with reference to FIG. 14.

First, the operator places a document image to which a two-dimensionalbarcode is attached on an original table, then designates scanning, andthe process starts (step S1300). The original scanning may be performedby using, e.g., the scanner unit 131 of the digital multi-functiondevice 130. When scanning has been performed (step S1301), image data ofthe read document is transferred to the image analysis unit 202. Then itis determined from the transferred image data whether or not atwo-dimensional barcode exists (step S1302). If it is determined that notwo-dimensional barcode exists, the process proceeds to step S1313, andthe image data is stored in the form described in FIGS. 3A to 3C andFIGS. 4A and 4B, in the document management server 110.

If it is determined that a two-dimensional barcode exists in the imagedata of the read document, the process proceeds from step S1302 to stepS1303, at which analysis processing is performed on the two-dimensionalbarcode. It is determined from the result of analysis whether or not theform information described in the form description language is stored(step S1304). If it is determined that no form information exists, it isdetermined whether or not any other two-dimensional barcode image existson the image data (step S1305). If it is determined that anothertwo-dimensional barcode exists, the process returns to step S1303, atwhich the analysis processing is performed on the two-dimensionalbarcode. If it is determined at step S1305 that no unidentifiedtwo-dimensional barcode exists, as there is no two-dimensional barcodeindicating form information in the image data, the process proceeds tostep S1313, at which the image data is stored in the form described inFIGS. 3A to 3C and FIGS. 4A and 4B, in the document management server110. Note that well-known techniques can be applied to the determinationof the presence/absence and position of barcode from a read image andthe extraction and analysis of barcode.

If it is determined at step S1304 that a two-dimensional barcodedescribing form information exists, the form information is expandedfrom the two-dimensional barcode, and the process proceeds to step S1306and the subsequent steps. First, unprocessed index information isobtained from the form information (step S1306). Then an index item(1102 in FIG. 11) is extracted from the index information, and it isdetermined whether or not the index item is already registered in theindex management server (step S1307). If the index item is notregistered (new index item), the index item is added to the index table500 in FIG. 5A (step S1308). Next, information indicating the positionand size of the area (1101 in FIG. 11) is extracted from the indexinformation, and image data in an area designated with the informationis extracted from the image data (step S1309). Further, characterrecognition auxiliary information (1103 in FIG. 11) is extracted fromthe form information, and the character recognition processing isperformed on the extracted area image data in a mode designated with thecharacter recognition auxiliary information (step S1310). For example,it may be arranged such that plural types of character recognitionprocessings are prepared, then appropriate character recognitionprocessing is selected and performed based on the character recognitionauxiliary information, otherwise, a recognition dictionary is selectedbased on the character recognition auxiliary information.

Then, text data obtained by the character recognition processing, asindex data, is added, with an index ID of the index item to be linked,to the index data table 501 (step S1311). Note that a data ID specifyingthe newly-added index data is allocated to the newly-added index data,and the index data is recorded in the index data table 501.

Next, it is determined whether or not the next (unprocessed) indexinformation exists in the form information (step S1312). If it isdetermined that unprocessed index information exists, the processreturns to step S1306 to repeat the above processing. If it isdetermined that no unprocessed index information exists, i.e., theextraction processing on all the index data has been completed, theprocess proceeds to step S1313, at which the document is registered inthe form described in FIGS. 3A to 3C and FIGS. 4A and 4B.

At step S1313, the image data is stored in the volume server unit 115,and the various document attributes of the image data are stored in theattribute management server unit 112. Then, at step S1314, the documentID is linked with the index data, and the process ends (step S1315).That is, at step S1315, in the index data table 501, the document ID isregistered in a document ID cell corresponding to the newly added indexdata.

Note that if it is determined at step S1302 or S1305 that no forminformation exists and the index information extraction is notperformed, the processing at step S1314 is skipped. Further, it may bearranged such that if it is determined at step S1302 or S1305 that noform information exists, index information is manually extracted. Inthis case, the above-described area dividing is performed and a userinterface similar to that shown in FIG. 13 is presented. Then, desiredarea and index item are designated, then index information is extractedand registered in the index data table 501.

As described above, in the document management system according to thepresent embodiment, a two-dimensional barcode is generated to includeform information and information for index extraction, thetwo-dimensional barcode is added barcode to an image of form (such asledger sheet) to generate combined image data of the form image and thetwo-dimensional barcode image. When, a form, outputted on a medium suchas a paper sheet using the combined image data, is optically read, andstored and managed in the document management system, the indexinformation is automatically extracted from the image data and theinformation is stored. Accordingly, as it is unnecessary for a user topreviously set combination of information in the image data and an indexitem, a registration operation can be efficiently performed, thus theoperability can be greatly improved.

Further, according to the above embodiment, the way of extraction ofindex information, in stead of index data itself, is recorded in thetwo-dimensional barcode. Accordingly, even when the content of anoriginal to be scanned has been changed, the original is merely read andregistered (for example, the document ID is designated and the updatedoriginal image is registered), thereby the index data can be updated.That is, the index data can be flexibly and easily updated. Further,according to the present embodiment, index extraction from a designatedarea is performed in accordance with an index extraction method storedin the two-dimensional barcode. As the character recognition auxiliaryinformation indicating e.g. character type, language and characterorientation is registered in each of designated areas, the characterrecognition processing can be performed in an optimum characterrecognition mode in each of designated areas. Thus, the accuracy ofindex data extraction can be improved.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described as above. Thepresent invention can be implemented as a system, an apparatus, amethod, a program, a storage medium or the like. More particularly, thepresent invention can be applied to a system constituted by a pluralityof devices or to an apparatus comprising a single device.

Note that the invention includes a case where the object of theinvention is attained by directly or remotely supplying a softwareprogram realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment (inthe embodiment, a program corresponding to the flowcharts shown in thedrawings) to a system or apparatus, and reading and executing thesupplied program code by a computer of the system or apparatus.

Accordingly, the program code itself installed in the computer torealize the functional processings of the present invention realizes thepresent invention. That is, the present invention includes the computerprogram to realize the functional processings of the present invention.

In this case, so long as the system or apparatus has the functions ofthe program, the program may be executed in any form, such as an objectcode, a program executed by an interpreter, or script data supplied toan operating system.

Example of storage media that can be used for supplying the program area floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, amagneto-optical disk, an MO, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a CD-RW, a magnetic tape,a non-volatile type memory card, a ROM, and a DVD (a DVD-ROM and aDVD-R).

As for the method of supplying the program, a client computer can beconnected to a website on the Internet using a browser of the clientcomputer, and the computer program of the present invention or anautomatically-installable compressed file of the program can bedownloaded to a recording medium such as a hard disk. Further, theprogram of the present invention can be supplied by dividing the programcode constituting the program into a plurality of files and downloadingthe files from different websites. In other words, a WWW (World WideWeb) server that downloads, to multiple users, the program files thatimplement the functions of the present invention by computer is alsocovered by the claims of the present invention.

It is also possible to encrypt and store the program of the presentinvention on a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, distribute the storagemedium to users, allow users who meet certain requirements to downloaddecryption key information from a website via the Internet, and allowthese users to decrypt the encrypted program by using the keyinformation, whereby the program is installed in the user computer.

Besides the cases where the aforementioned functions according to theembodiment are implemented by executing the read program by computer, anoperating system or the like running on the computer may perform all ora part of the actual processing in accordance with designations of theprogram so that the functions of the above embodiment can be implementedby this processing.

Furthermore, after the program read from the storage medium is writtento a function expansion board inserted into the computer or to a memoryprovided in a function expansion unit connected to the computer, a CPUor the like mounted on the function expansion board or functionexpansion unit performs all or a part of the actual processing inaccordance with designations of the program so that the functions of theabove embodiment can be implemented by this processing.

According to the present invention, a document registration work into adocument management system can be facilitated.

As many apparently widely different embodiments of the present inventioncan be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it isto be understood that the invention is not limited to the specificembodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claims.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No.2005-021824 filed on Jan. 28, 2005, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

1. An information processing apparatus having a central processing unit,comprising: a dividing unit configured to perform area dividingprocessing on document image data, wherein the area dividing processingdivides a document image of the document image data into a plurality ofareas; a designation unit configured to receive from a user aninstruction for designating an area on which a character recognitionprocessing is to be performed, from the plurality of areas divided bysaid dividing unit, wherein the character recognition processinganalyzes a document image of the designated area and obtains text datafrom the designated area; a setting unit configured to receive from theuser an instruction for setting an index item which is to be relatedwith text data to be obtained from the designated area by the characterrecognition processing; a generation unit configured to generate indexextraction information indicating the area designated by saiddesignation unit and the index item set by said setting unit, the indexextraction information being constructed for use by an informationprocessing apparatus to perform the character recognition processing onthe designated area and to relate text data obtained from the designatedarea by the character recognition processing with the set index item;and a combining unit configured to generate combined data by combiningthe index extraction information generated by said generation unit andform image data corresponding to the document image data, wherein if thecombined data is printed and a printed image of the combined data isscanned, an information processing apparatus obtains the indexextraction information from the scanned image, performs the characterrecognition processing on the area of the scanned image indicated by theobtained index extraction information and relates text data obtainedfrom the area of the scanned image by the character recognitionprocessing with the index item indicated by the obtained indexextraction information.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, whereinsaid generation unit generates image data of a pattern imagerepresenting said index extraction information, and wherein saidcombining unit combines the image data of the pattern image generated bysaid generation unit with said document image data.
 3. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein said information indicating the areaincludes position coordinates and size of the area in the documentimage.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said setting unitreceives from the user an instruction for setting auxiliary informationincluding at least one of a type of character, a direction of characterand language, for character recognition processing, and wherein saidindex extraction information generated by said generation unit furtherincludes said auxiliary information.
 5. An information processingmethod, comprising: a dividing step of performing area dividingprocessing on document image data, wherein the area dividing processingdivides a document image of the document image data into a plurality ofareas; a presentation step of presenting a user interface to designatean area on which a character recognition processing is to be performed,from the plurality of areas divided at said dividing step, wherein thecharacter recognition processing analyzes a document image of thedesignated area and obtains text data from the designated area, and auser interface to set an index item which is to be related with the textdata to be obtained from the designated area by the characterrecognition processing; a generation step of generating index extractioninformation indicating the area designated via the user interfacepresented at said presentation step and the index item set via the userinterface presented at said presentation step, the index extractionbeing constructed for use by an information processing apparatus toperform the character recognition processing on the designated area andto relate text data obtained from the designated area by the characterrecognition processing with the set index item; a combining step ofgenerating combined data by combining the index extraction informationgenerated at said generation step and form image data corresponding tothe document image data; a scan step of scanning the printed image ofthe combined data, after the combined data is printed; an analysis stepin which an image obtained by the scanning of the printed image of thecombined data is analyzed by an information processing apparatus toobtain the index extraction information; a character recognition step inwhich character recognition processing is performed by an informationprocessing apparatus on the area of the scanned image indicated by theindex extraction information obtained at said analysis step to obtaintext data; and a relating step in which the text data obtained by thecharacter recognition processing is related with the index itemindicated by the index extraction information obtained at said analysisstep.
 6. A storage medium holding a control program for executing theinformation processing method in claim 5 with a computer.
 7. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the index extraction informationis described in a form description language.
 8. The apparatus accordingto claim 2, wherein said pattern image comprises a two-dimensionalbarcode image.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 1, furthercomprising: an analysis unit configured to analyze an image obtained byscanning a printed image of the combined data to obtain the indexextraction information; a recognition unit configured to extract animage of the area indicated by the obtained index extractioninformation, and perform character recognition processing on theextracted image; and a relating unit configured to relate text dataobtained by said recognition unit with the index item indicated by theobtained index extraction information.
 10. An information processingapparatus having a central processing unit, comprising: a dividing unitconfigured to perform area dividing processing on document image data,wherein the area dividing processing divides a document image of thedocument image data into a plurality of areas; a designation unitconfigured to receive from a user an instruction for designating an areaon which a character recognition processing is to be performed, from theplurality of areas divided by said dividing unit, wherein the characterrecognition processing analyzes a document image of the designated areaand obtains text data from the designated area; a setting unitconfigured to receive from the user an instruction for setting an indexitem which is to be related with text data to be obtained from thedesignated area by the character recognition processing; a generationunit configured to generate index extraction information indicating thearea designated by said designation unit and the index item set by saidsetting unit, the index extraction information being constructed for useby an information processing apparatus to perform the characterrecognition processing on the designated area and to relate text dataobtained from the designated area by the character recognitionprocessing with the set index item; and a combining unit configured togenerate combined data by combining the index extraction informationgenerated by said generation unit and form image data corresponding tothe document image data, wherein if the combined data is printed suchthat the printed image includes a visual representation of the indexextraction information, and the printed image of the combined data isscanned, an information processing apparatus obtains area informationand an index item from the scanned visual representation of the indexextraction information, performs the character recognition processing onthe area of the scanned image indicated by the area information from thescanned visual representation of the index extraction information andrelates text data obtained from the area of the scanned image by thecharacter recognition processing with the index item indicated by theindex item obtained from the scanned visual representation of the indexextraction information.